Four riders, 200 laps and at least 10 exchanges of the bicycle -- seems simple enough.\nThe surface of the Little 500 can appear almost elementary with 33 cyclists riding around in circles. But ask the right questions of the right people and it's easy to discover that the difference between first and fifth place can come down to exchanging on this lap or the next one, gunning it now or in two more seconds.\n"I don't think (fans) understand the whole mental, physical and emotional effort that's going on in that pit," said Kappa Alpha Theta coach Tom Schwoegler, whose been coaching Little 500 teams for 39 years. "You can go to any team here and they'll say, 'We appreciate our fans, but we wish they'd show up and appreciate the hard work we've done, and not get drunk and be idiots.'"\nSo what are the right questions? Here are a few that uncover some misconceptions:
How much planning actually goes into the race?\nNobody close to the race can discount luck as a major factor. So coaches establish a foundational plan with plenty of wiggle room in case of, well, anything.\nGenerally, a team will decide who it wants to finish the race and roughly how many laps that person should ride. From there, it's simply a matter of being prepared.\n"The good coaches try and take every question mark and turn it into a period," Schwoegler said. "They say, 'These are all the variables. Let's turn as many of them as we can into a constant.'"\nAnd of course, there is always plenty of praying for a little bit of the "L" word.\n"You really have to get lucky to win Little 5," said Kappa Kappa Gamma coach Marc Kase. "But luck presents itself all the time. You have to be attentive and mindful of your circumstances to take advantage of luck when it pops up."
But the coaching eases once the race starts, right?\nWrong. In fact, not too long ago Schwoegler had an entire "brain trust" working feverishly for every second of the race.\n"I would have five people and they would all have stopwatches and clip boards," he said. "I would get every lap time of every \ncompetitive team."\nBut Schwoegler said the race has grown more dynamic in recent years -- from a "time race" to a "position race." So the most important coaching aspect now is building an honest relationship with the team so the right person can be riding at the right time.\n"Marc (Kase) and Bill (Naas) make up the Kappa cycling tradition," Kappa senior Jess Sapp said. "They're the backbone of our team."\nBut like coaches in any other sport, modesty is always a quality characteristic.\n"We make a little, teeny difference," Kase said. "Ninety-nine percent of the work comes from the riders."
So prove it. How was this evident in the women's race?\nKappa Kappa Gamma spent weeks accumulating and analyzing information about its opponents. And when race day rolled around, the strategy was formulated around two specific teams.\n"Alpha Phi and Kappa Delta were two of the best teams, so our strategy was to stay with them," Sapp said. "In addition to knowing they were top teams, we hoped that I could beat them in a sprint."\nSapp, who swept the series events, represented Kappa's biggest advantage. So the team worked backwards and planned on putting Sapp on the bike with about five laps left, teammate Colleen Groth on before that, and Caroline Andrew before that. \nNoting it as a rarity, Sapp said everything went according to plan during the race, so by lap 95, Sapp hopped on the bike with only 13 laps on her legs.\nThe only initiative from there: pedal fast.
What about the men's race? Clearly that was just one rider taking over, right?\nSenior Hans Arnesen rode for Alpha Tau Omega like a man possessed, sure. Lapping the field in about 30 minutes certainly makes the last hour and a half a bit easier, but a lot had to align for that to happen.\nWithin the first 20 laps, Arnesen pushed ahead early to serve a two-second penalty. While ahead of the masses, a couple of wrecks spread out the field and a yellow flag put the race's fastest rider in a position to get a good jump on the field.\n"We found ourselves out front, our iron man was out there, and then you have to decide if you go or not," ATO coach Norm Houze said. "We just happened to have the guy to do it."\nAround lap 23 or 24, Houze said they made the decision to attack and that Arnesen would have about 10 or 15 laps to "go guts out." He would have to catch the main pack again in order to avoid being left riding alone, without protection.\nArnesen rode hard for a couple laps until he could see the main pack along the straight away, "then you can smell blood and you go," Houze said.\nCoaching proved crucial in both races, but Houze later admitted that having speed at your disposal makes matters easier -- a testament true for ATO and Kappa alike.\n"When you have the fastest rider who's ever been on the track, wouldn't you want a Babe Ruth on your team?" he said.
